


pieces of you

by nerdytardis



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: 5+1 Things, Cuddling & Snuggling, Family Feels, Kissing, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Moving In Together, Mutual Pining, Romance, Sharing Clothes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-10-27 21:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20767481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdytardis/pseuds/nerdytardis
Summary: Seven times David took something of Patrick's (and one time he gave Patrick something back)





	pieces of you

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally 5+1 but then i had two more ideas oops  
sorry for any weird typos, i always miss a few
> 
> thanks for reading!!

_I cannot live without you_  
_ I told you this is true_  
_ I'll take pieces of you with me_  
_ I'll take parts you never knew_

“My Dear” - Kina Grannis

**I- **

David was never one to pass up a meal. He enjoyed eating almost as much as the people around him liked his blood sugar staying above a reasonable point. Hangry David was not a pretty sight. 

Today was an anomaly. With good reason, but still. 

The nerves that had been building in his stomach for days had reached a peak this morning and breakfast just hadn’t really seemed like an option.

Then the idea of opening a store and the reality of it had finally met and lunch had been forgotten amid the flurry of customers. He was still trying to catch his breath when he finally flipped the “open” sign around at the end of the day.

It didn’t help that Patrick had been smiling at him all day in a way that made him feel lightheaded. Now that hug made him down-right woozy. 

“Okay, okay.” David took a little bit more of a step back, “Unless you want me to pass out in front of you, I need to eat.”

“Oh yeah.” Patrick said, “Everything got so busy, I never ate my lunch.”

“Well I never ate anything, so I’m going to go deal with that.” David gestured with his thumb towards the café.

Patrick bit his lip and looked to his shoes, then the back room, then, finally, David. “I actually—uh—I brought enough that we could share if you want?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, that way we can finish closing and locking up.”

_Oh._

“Of course.” David nodded a few times too quickly and looked away, “Makes sense.”

While Patrick went to get his food, David pulled two chairs up to one of the tables they had set up for snacks during the day. He was skeptical that Patrick actually brought enough for the two of them, so he started consolidating all the left-overs.

Patrick caught him eyeing the wine as he stepped out of the back room and smirked.

“I think we deserve it.” He grabbed a bottle and put it in the center of the table.

“We did do pretty good today.” David couldn’t help but preen.

“That we did.” Patrick smiled at him again, all warm and _nice_. None of the people who worked with him at his galleries were ever this sweet. He liked this much better.

Patrick unpacked his “lunch,” growing more visibly self-conscious as he laid it all out.

“You really did pack enough for both of us, huh?” David counted two servings of everything.

“Well—” Patrick shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets, “I thought that—y’know—it being opening day and everything, it might be easier if we both just eat here instead of going to get something or whatever.” He shrugged again, then finally looked up to see David’s low, wide smile

“Well.” David fiddled with a Tupperware lid, “Thank you.”

Patrick finally smiled again, the surprised one that David really liked to coax out of him.

“You’re welcome.” Patrick ducked his head a little and they fell into a loaded silence. 

They kept having these moments where they both seemed to be waiting, anticipating. David had yet to figure out what they were waiting for so he was left with these weird limbo conversations where he stood on the edge of something and couldn’t see what was below.

What he could see was a sandwich on the table in front of him.

He finally cleared his throat and sat down, pulling the nearest sandwich to him. Patrick sat down across from him, and grabbed his own food.

They talked as they ate, about the store and the opening and what they needed to do before tomorrow. The fact that they had to keep doing this every day—that they had to actually run a store now—finally hit home and for a moment David could feel it all bearing down on him.

But Patrick was there. Laughing a little at David’s dumb joke and obviously not worried about anything more than his food. With Patrick it would all be okay, David knew it. 

He reached across and stole one of Patrick’s chips. 

“Hey!” Patrick protested was accompanied by a bemused smile so David just smirked back, “You have your own.”

“Yeah, they’re gone.”

“Well then I’ll pack more next time.”

_Next time. _

David felt warmth pool in his belly. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Patrick smile didn’t so much falter as shift for a moment. There was a half-second where he looked more in awe than anything else, but it was gone in a flash, replaced by his normal little twist of the lips. 

David didn’t know what Patrick saw in him, but if he kept bringing him food and looking at him like _that_, David knew he was going to start falling into something that would seriously complicate the very nice business-partners-slash-friends thing they had. 

But right now wasn’t the time for thoughts like _that_. Right now was for celebrating. And stealing more of Patrick’s food. 

**II- **

Just the top of David head, from his nose up, poked out above the covers. Curling into the bundle of blankets a little more, he smiled to himself. 

There were few things on this planet David liked more than waking up warm and cozy, with no alarm in sight and the sun reflecting off the walls. Nothing could really compare to how comfortable that moment was. Every muscle was relaxed, nothing hurt or itched or needed to be fixed. 

The memory of last night sat happily in his chest too, making the moment even better. 

When he rolled over, he would see Patrick. The thought made him giddy, almost dizzy with anticipation.

He rolled over under his blanket cocoon and saw Patrick, awake and reading a book while sitting against the headboard. He was wearing a sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up, a pair of sweatpants, and thick wool socks. 

“Uh—” David’s brow scrunched up on confusion, “Good morning?”

Patrick smiled at him and put the book back on the bedside table, “’Morning.”

“Um,” David blinked at Patrick as he stretched out a little, “What are you—why are you wearing so many clothes?”

Patrick’s face did the thing it always did when he was about to explain something he thought should be obvious. It was just as infuriatingly cute as ever. “You stole all the covers and I got cold.”

“I—” David looked to the nice warm buddle he had woken up in, and then to Patrick’s bare side of the bed, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Feeling guilty the night after is not a great feeling. David bit his lip and started to untangle himself from the blankets. “Sorry.”

Patrick sort of chuckled but still happily accepted the warm covers. He pulled them over until they covered the whole bed again, and then scooted over so he was right next to David.

Nose to nose, Patrick eyes flitted across his face and he smiled, soft and warm like sunshine. 

But David still felt bad about the covers situation.

“You could have pulled them back to your side.” He said. 

Patrick let out a soft huff, thoroughly amused by that sentence in a way that David didn’t really understand.

“I didn’t want to.” Patrick said.

“Why?”

“Because you looked so comfortable.” Patrick brought his hand up between them, then gently reached forward to run his fingers across David’s jaw line, “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

The pads of Patrick’s fingers moved up to his hairline, brushing some of his mussed hair out of his face. It was all far too much for David to take.

He moved in and Patrick met him halfway, his fingers threading back through David’s hair. The kiss tasted like morning breath and their stubble scratched together even more than normal. It was one of the best kisses David had had in years. 

Right up there with their first. And the one after that. And—

“Next time,” Patrick was pulling back and David already missed his lips, “I will be waking you up though.”

_Next time_. 

David tooled his smile into a smirk, “I can live with that.”

**III- **

The thing about getting properly dressed up for date night was that it meant disaster if anything spilled during dinner.

David was about ready to go into mourning at the sight of his sweater. It was one of a kind, a custom piece that he only pulled out for special occasions, and now it had pasta sauce all down the sleeve.

“David.” Patrick’s voice broke through the white noise, “David. Take a deep breath.”

“I love this sweater.”

“I know and we’ll get that out before it stains.” Patrick was dabbing at the mess with a napkin. “We’ll go back to my apartment and get it right into the wash.”

“But—” David finally snapped out of it and remembered where the hell he was, “What about the rest of tonight?” They hadn’t even seen the desert menu yet.

“Do you really want to give that time to set?”

David looked to Patrick’s uncertain face and felt his world click back into place. “God I love you.”

Patrick broke into a grin, “You better; it took ages to get this reservation.”

David bit his lip, drinking in his perfect boyfriend on their perfect date, before turning to find the nearest waiter. He flagged them down, flashed a smile, and let his bitch flag fly.

“I’m impressed.” Patrick said as he carried boxes full of practically a whole meal and a selection of deserts back to his car, “And a little scared. Is that how talk our suppliers into discounts?”

“Don’t worry.” David held the door open for Patrick to put all their food in the back, “I reserve that for extreme situations.”

“Like when you’re clothes are in danger.”

David made a face at him. “Like when my boyfriend did something really nice and I ruined it by making a mess.”

Patrick hummed and smiled at him, “I like that version better.”

“I thought you might.”

**\---**

“You can borrow something to wear,” Patrick said, “Or not.” He smirked and David smirked right back, standing bare-chested in Patrick’s living room with his hands on his hips.

“Like what you see?”

“Hm.” Patrick gave a show of checking him out, before he turned back to sweater he was treating with some anti-stain stuff he promised would do the trick, “Maybe.”

David snorted and crossed his arms across his chest. He wandered into the bedroom to find something to wear—it was cold after all.

“I’ll throw this in the wash and be right back.” Patrick said over his shoulder as he grabbed his keys and headed downstairs to the laundry room.

Pulling open Patrick’s dresser, David started to look around. He had a good idea where everything was—he basically lived here at this point—but he hadn’t had such an unprecedented opportunity to poke around before.

He looked through all the drawers and mostly found what he was expecting—the only thing really notable was a small collection of t-shirts he had never seen before. David made a mental note to get his man into more casual wear. Anything to show off his arms.

Then at the bottom of the last drawer—the jackpot. 

David pulled it out and grinned, a giddy kind of shiver running up his spin. He slipped it on and buttoned it up; it fit a little tighter than it was probably supposed to, but Patrick was a smaller person than him so he didn’t let it offend him.

The front door opened and Patrick’s keys dropped onto the kitchen table.

“That will be out in a half an hour. I think we saved it just in—” Patrick stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of David. 

“Look what I found.” David knew he was being coy, but he couldn’t help it. He spread his arms a little to show off the jersey, then spun around flashing the BREWER stitched across the back. 

“You—” Patrick blinked at him, a smile spreading slowly and surely across his face, “Um.”

“Is this hockey or baseball? Or something else.”

“Baseball.” Patrick finally seemed to get over his shock, moving up to put his hands on David’s hips and hold him still, “It’s from college.”

Patrick stared at him, clearly lost in his imagination. David liked to think that Patrick was thinking of the same things he was—of sharing fries from the dining hall and cuddling in Patrick’s dorm room, of cheering Patrick on from the stands and kissing him when they won the championship. 

“I like you all flustered like this.” David grinned and Patrick’s eyes flashed up to meet his. 

“I like you in my jersey.”

“Oh? I never could have guessed.”

Patrick shot him a look. 

“Don’t even.” David shook his head at his ridiculous boyfriend.

Patrick bit his lip and tried to look annoyed but it didn’t work. 

As soon as David had seen the jersey he had a good idea of what it would do to Patrick, and he was delighted to be proven so very right. 

But David didn’t really have any plans on wearing the jersey outside anywhere. He would reserve that for something a little more classic. “Do you have a varsity jacket somewhere too?”

Patrick’s eyes went wide, his smile splitting his face again. “I’ll call my mom tomorrow.”

“Oh boy.” David shimmed a little in place, “That gives us time to maybe eat some of that cake boxed up in the kitchen then…?”

Patrick laughed, and took David’s hand in his to lead him to the kitchen, “Sure.”

**IV- **

“Hey babe?”

David didn’t even look up from his book. “Hmm?”

“Have you seen my coat?”

“Which one?”

Patrick stepped into the main room, and David finally looked up. Arms crossed and with a crease in his brow, Patrick didn’t look particularly happy. David put his book down. 

“Any of them would be a nice start.” Patrick titled his head a little and gave David one of his unimpressed looks, “Where are my other clothes, David?”

“Well—” David suddenly became very fascinated with his rings, “There wasn’t a ton of space left in the closet after I unpacked my boxes and I, um, have yet to find a place to put your stuff.”

“So,” Patrick drew his words out and David felt even guiltier with each syllable, “When you said you finished unpacking the clothes, you just meant, _your_ clothes.”

David bit his lip and nodded. “This isn’t a good look for day one is it?”

“No David it’s not.”

“Look,” David stood up and stepped over to the periphery of Patrick’s personal space, “I’ve never done this before.”

Patrick still didn’t uncross his arms.

“Even after like five years with Alexis this whole sharing a space thing isn’t really my forte.”

“I never would have guested.”

David gave Patrick’s a look for interrupting him and the line of Patrick’s lips finally twitched towards something more like a smile.

“But I’m trying.” David said, taking another step closer. “When I realized how much space my stuff took up I—” he shook his head and looked away for a moment, “I panicked.”

Patrick’s eye brows came together in confusion.

“Like,” David picked at an imaginary piece of something on Patrick’s shoulder, “I felt bad about taking all your space but there wasn’t anywhere else to put all my pieces that needs to be hung up and I didn’t know what you would say and mostly I didn’t want you…to…regret this.”

David winced. 

In front of him, Patrick softened. He dropped his hands to David’s hips and stepped into his space. “You don’t have to worry about that.” 

David rested his arms on Patrick’s shoulders and let out a breath despite himself. This was his happy place no matter what they were talking about. “We both know that isn’t going to stop me.”

Patrick let out a breath through his nose, something not quite a laugh. “I’ll help with that. And,” He gave David a significant look, “you’ll help put together an extra clothing rack for my stuff.”

They both knew what that would look like but David was going to take the out where he could get it. “I can do that.” He nodded a little and leaned in even more, curling his hand into the back of Patrick’s hair.

Patrick met him halfway for the kiss, an apology and a reassurance wrapped up in one. 

They pulled back, still leaning into each other’s arms, and David said, “I’m sorry.”

“I think you’re doing fine.”

David quirked an eyebrow at him and Patrick finally laughed a little.

“Well, you’re doing better than I expected.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You can’t tell me you didn’t see something like this coming.”

David tried to glare at Patrick but there was never any real fire behind it. He finally looked away, his smile fighting its way back to his lips. 

“Hey—” Patrick squeezed him between his arms a little, “Tonight our first night in our own apartment.”

There was no fighting his smile after that. David grinned at his fiancé, who was smiling back, all coy and perfect.

“That’s true.” David bit his lip and Patrick’s eyes dipped down to watch.

Forgetting where this conversation had even started, David curled in Patrick and let himself get swept up in the kiss. 

**V-**

Unafraid to hurt a few feelings, David had never had any trouble whittling down a guest list. Until now. This particular list was quickly becoming his white whale. 

Patrick just had so many damn cousins. 

“I promised Hannah when we were little that we’d go to each other’s weddings.”

“That was years ago, that promise means nothing now.” David tried to cross the name off, but Patrick pulled the paper out of reach again. 

“David someone has to be there or we won’t have enough witnesses.” 

“We’ll have more than enough people without your entire extended family being there.”

“I want them to be there.” Patrick pouted at him.

David softened. “And I want you to be happy.” He leaned in a little, “But we need to be able to afford this thing without selling the store.”

“Maybe,” Patrick put the list back on the table and pointedly reached for his wedding binder, “we could go with a different caterer?”

“Or,” David put both his hands on the binder so Patrick couldn’t flip the page, “We could keep it small and book the best caterer this side of nowhere.”

“As long as people have _something_ to eat and don’t get food poisoning I think they’ll be happy.”

“But will I be?”

Patrick gave David a look.

“Fine.” David gave up his hold on the binder, “If all of your family is there, we’ll need to rent a bigger tent.”

“There’s not _that_ many of them.”

“So how many distant relatives are we talking about here?” David waved his hands impatiently, “Can you just give me a ballpark number at least?”

Patrick stopped and blinked at him, “Did you just make a baseball reference?”

“What? No I didn’t.”

“I think you did.”

“Well—” David sputtered, “It was a mistake. I’ve clearly been spending too much time with you, if I’ve started to pick up—sports.”

“I think it’s cute.” Patrick’s smile was sugary sweet and irresistible. David’s expression started to soften against his will. 

David looked away, and then back to Patrick’s little smirk and finally relented, his lips curling into a self-conscious smile. “It’s not _that_ cute.”

“Oh, I think it is.” Patrick really was beaming. He put a hand on the back of David’s chair and leaned in to press a soft kiss to David’s temple. 

David hummed and leaned in to it, “How cute exactly?”

“Very.” Patrick leaned back and pecked David on the lips once. “Can my cousin Hannah come now?”

David swatted at his arm as Patrick laughed. 

“Fine. Bring all your cousins.” David looked to the binder, “I’ll survive without the five-star meal.”

“Thank you David.” Patrick kissed his temple again, lingering for a moment before he started adding more names to the list. “Y’know, people say you don’t really eat at your own wedding anyway.”

David made a bit of an offended noise. “Have you met me?”

Patrick chuckled and looked up from the list for a moment. “Yes, yes I have.” When he looked back to the list, he considered what they had so far and then bit the end of his pen. 

“What about your family?”

“What do you mean?” David looked over Patrick’s arm and could clearly see “Alexis, Moira, and Johnny Rose” written out at the top in Patrick’s neat hand, “They’re on the list.”

“What about everyone else?” Patrick turned to him, “You really don’t want to invite any extended family?”

“Not if I have to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Babe,” David leaned in a little, “All you need to know is that the only person who so much as reached out after we lost our money was my aunt Dee Dee and she literally showed up to gloat.”

Patrick blinked at him, visibly upset, “I didn’t know that.”

“It’s fine. While I debated invited them solely for the gifts, I decided against it because I really, truly, don’t want to deal with them.” David patted Patrick’s knee under the table to drive the point home, “I have everyone I need right here.”

The line of Patrick’s brow went soft and he smiled at David in a wonderful, little way, his lips twisting like he was trying to keep a secret.

“I’m glad.”

“Me too.” David squeezed Patrick’s knee once before he leaned back, “Now can I please see how many Brewer’s I will have to meet so I can have a—an _estimate_ of how many names I will not remember?”

Patrick broke into a grin. He turned back to the list and David let his own secret little smile shine out. 

**VI- **

“Something’s happened,” is not a phrase to be used lightly the week before a wedding. This is _especially_ true when David Rose is the one presumably getting married at the end of the week. 

“What the hell do you mean?” David hissed into his phone. 

“Judging from the number of cute firemen running around,” Alexis said, “I think the bakery had a bad morning.”

David pressed his fingers into his temple. “Have you seen Margarete?”

“Not yet. I just pulled up and there are all these trucks and things.”

“So are you sure it’s the bakery that had a fire?”

Alexis’s huff was audible even over the phone, “David I’m looking right at it, I can see the firemen walking around inside. And it’s not like the lawyer next store has an oven in the back.”

“You don’t know that!” David’s voice pitched up defensively, “He could…be a…I don’t know, some kind of pyromaniac in his free time.”

“_David_—”

“A pyromaniac?” His mom walked into the store, with Patrick a step behind, “Oh David, I thought you learned your lesson with the last one.”

“Last one?” Patrick looked between them with a confused smirk, “When—”

David silenced his fiancé with a finger and a stern look. Patrick’s grin didn’t go away though, as he leaned back and watched David with a far-too entertained look.

In his ear, Alexis is still going on about how lawyers aren’t actually that interesting, even the ones with hidden tattoos and things and this was all getting to be too much.

“Stay there,” David cut her off, “And find someone to talk to about what happened and only _then_, can you call me back. Okay?”

“Sheesh David fine.”

“And don’t just ogle the firefighters.”

She gasped at him, a little too dramatically. “I resent that.”

David titled his head back, squeezed his eyes shut, and let out a low whine. “I don’t care how you feel about it, just do it okay?”

“Fine.”

“Thank you.” David finally hung up. He stuffed his phone in his back pocket before it could bring him anymore bad news.

Patrick cleared his throat. “What was that about?”

David shook his head a little and tried to unclench his jaw. “Apparently, the bakery had a fire.”

Patrick’s humor evaporated. “What?”

But his reaction was, of course, overshadowed by Moira’s dramatics. “A fire! What an abysmal turn of events.”

David ignored his mother and turned instead to Patrick, “I don’t know what happened yet, but Alexis went to drop off the check and apparently there were firetrucks and everything.”

“Is everyone okay?” Patrick said.

“Where can you get a serviceable cake at such short notice?” Moira added, unhelpfully.

“I don’t know.” David could hear his voice reaching higher up the register, “I don’t know anything and I don’t know what we’re going to do. I just don’t know.”

“Okay.” Patrick stepped up and put his hands on David’s shoulders, “Let’s figure out all that once we know more. And Mrs. Rose—can you give us a minute?”

“Of course, you must decide what to do now that the first disaster of the week has struck.”

“Excuse me? The_ first_?” David’s voice was going get stuck at this octave and then his mother would learn her lesson.

“Moira please.” Patrick tried again.

“It happens to everyone my dear, it’s best to embrace it and try to work through the chaos. The show must go on after all.”

“_Mother._”

“I’m going.” Moira somehow sounded like she was the offended one, “We can discuss the musical accompaniment at a later date.”

“The—?” David was going to scream.

“Hey, hey.” Patrick took his face in his hands as the door jingled shut, “Breath.”

David dutifully took in a deep breath through his nose.

“Good. Thank you.” Patrick’s hands dropped to his sides, holding him close but giving him enough space to breath, “We’ll wait until Alexis calls back and then we’ll make a plan.”

“But what if we can’t get a cake? That’s a whole _thing_, we have to have a cake.”

“Then we’ll get a cake from somewhere else.”

“Do you really want our wedding to involve some kind of _sheet cake_?”

Patrick sighed a little, a cross between amused and frustrated. “I’m sure we can find something fancier than a sheet cake.”

“What if—”

“David it’s going to be fine.”

“But—”

“_David._”

Patrick’s tone left little room for argument; the world finally stopped spinning. David looked to his fiancé, and tried to take another breath but it caught somewhere in his throat. 

“Don’t—I’m sorry.” David said, defeated. He looked to the floor and let the real problem slip out in a hushed voice. “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“That something will go wrong.”

Patrick didn’t respond and the air grew thick with expectation. David wasn’t just talking about the wedding and they both knew it. 

His voice was more whisper than words but with the two of them standing so close it didn’t matter. “I’m scared I’m not going to get this right.”

“David,” Patrick brought a hand up to cup David’s cheek, his thumb rubbing across his cheekbone, “You take my breath away everyday just by being…you. Here. With me. I’m not going anywhere.”

David reached out and pulled himself closer until he was pressing his face into Patrick’s shoulder, “I’m just—I’m overthinking. And I know I’m doing it but I can’t stop and I hate it. I just want everything to be perfect for you.”

“It will be perfect.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’ll be there, right?”

David didn’t respond, just rubbed his nose into the crook Patrick’s neck.

“Because that’s all I need for it to be perfect.”

Something deep in David’s gut went all gooey and soft. He squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around Patrick as tightly as he could.

“Thank you.” He said, even though he meant so much more. 

“I love you.” Patrick hugged David back. They swayed a little together and, somehow, it was enough. 

**VII-**

The motel bed had not aged well. 

David grimaced and rolled over, trying to find a spot that didn’t come with a spring poking at him.

Alexis’s back was to him, but he could see that she had clearly already fallen asleep. He watched in the dim light as her blankets rose and fell with each breath. 

Huffing, David rolled onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. 

He should have taken a pill. He was tired enough before, exhausted from the rehearsal and final checks and dinner with everyone, that he thought he wouldn’t need it. 

But now he was totally awake again, and couldn’t stop thinking about how puffy and tired he was going to look if he didn’t fall asleep really damn soon. 

David let a long, slow breath out of nose and closed his eyes.

When he was a kid, David used to daydream about his wedding. 

He always wanted it to be like something out of a movie—chic and classic and so ridiculously romantic. 

All the details would change as his tastes evolved, but the bit that always stayed the same was the sense of peace; the joy he would feel deep in his chest when the sun hit the horizon and his fiancé became his partner for life. The face tended to be a fuzzy sort of imaginary person who just got harder to see as time went on. 

David hadn’t thought about getting married in a long time when he met Patrick. He’d mostly given up hope.

Reaching for his fingers out of habit, David twisted his skin around. His rings were tucked away in a box at Stevie’s apartment for safekeeping before the ceremony. The absence left David feeling vaguely naked and alone.

Without the rings it almost felt like the last few years had been a fantasy. For a moment, he was still stuck here, sleeping on a depressing motel bed a few feet from his sister, with no hopes or dreams or life.

David pulled back the covers and sat up. He went to his bag and sifted through his things until he found the sweatshirt he had tucked away underneath it all. 

It was ancient. Whatever sports team logo was on the front was all cracked-up from too many washes, and the weird ketchup stain on the back was too old to think about. But when David brought it to nose it smelled like Patrick—it smelled like home. 

David glanced over his shoulder at Alexis, before shucking off his sleep sweater. He pulled Patrick’s sweatshirt on; it felt like a breath of fresh, night air, the fabric cool and soft against his skin. 

After leaving his folded sweater on top of his suitcase, David climbed back into bed. He curled up under the covers and tried to image the weight of the comforter was Patrick at his back.

David tucked his nose into the hem of the sweatshirt and thought about the day after tomorrow. He thought about waking up next to Patrick, and about their apartment and their lives together and about all the little things that made him fizzy with joy.

Curling in on himself a little tighter, David closed his eyes and thought about his dream wedding, the one he had come up with as a kid—except this time he could see the person he was marrying. He fell asleep somewhere in-between Patrick’s “I do” and their kiss but it didn’t matter.

Tomorrow was going to be better. 

**+I**

“It’s time for the rings.”

Detaching herself from her spot off to the side, Stevie stepped up and fished the rings out of her pocket.

Patrick caught her gaze as she dropped them into his palm, smiling before he enveloped her in a hug. Already misty-eyed when Patrick let go, she turned to David and smiled at him, sweetly and with far more years of friendship behind it than David ever thought he’d get.

He blinked back his own tears as he nodded, gesturing for her to come closer. Stevie made a kind of snuffling sound, heavy with emotional and breathy with joy as she stepped into his arms. 

David squeezed his eyes shut and hugged her tight for far too long but also not nearly long enough. But they needed to keep moving if they wanted to make it through the ceremony without him openly weeping. He’d reserve that for later, when there wasn’t a whole room of people watching him.

“Okay, okay—” He let out a shaky breath and tried to pull himself together. Stevie grinned at him and he grinned back. He could so clearly remember a time when that was rare for both of them and, just like so many things in his life, he never wanted to go back. 

Stevie quickly rubbed at her eyes as she stepped away, smiling at them and going back to her spot off to the side.

David and Patrick’s gaze met again, both so overwhelmed in the best way.

Patrick brought his hand up between them, the four gold rings resting in his palm catching the sun in a way that made them glow. 

“Wait—” Patrick blinked at his palm, then glanced back at Stevie, “There’s only—?”

David reached out and grabbed Patrick’s wrist. Patrick looked to him, uncertain and open and so vulnerable that it made David weak in the knees.

David nodded a little at him, trying to be reassuring while also trying to hold back all the emotions threatening to burst through. 

Without saying a word or breaking away from Patrick’s gaze, David let go of Patrick. 

Patrick, beautiful and perfect, just kept watching him, _trusting_ him in a way that David would work every remaining day of his life to be worthy of. 

One by one, David picked the rings out of Patrick’s palm and returned them to his unusually bare fingers. When he got to the last one, he stopped, holding it between thumb and forefinger, and looked to Patrick. 

Patrick looked up from the ring, to meet David’s hopeful expression. 

The fragility of the moment reached its peak as understanding softened all of Patrick’s features.

David nodded, already answering the unasked question, as hot tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. 

Patrick brought his hand up between them again. It was trembling. David held his wrist, but David’s own hands weren’t any steadier. They let out breathy laughs as they both quaked in the face of the moment, their joys and nerves bubbling out into the air as a gust of hot air.

David brought the ring up and carefully slid it into its place. 

They looked at the ring, then at each other. In the face staring back at him, David saw a future he couldn’t imagine, a level of happiness he couldn’t understand, a love that only deepened with each second. David saw his life spread out before him in Patrick’s face and he could tell from the reverent softness of Patrick’s expression that he saw it too. 

They saw each other—for all they were and all they ever could be. 

\---

Defying everyone’s expectations, it was Patrick who needed a private cry after the ceremony. Once he realized that David had not only gotten the ring resized, but also engraved with their initials, he just broke down. Stevie brought a box of tissues, along with two large glasses of wine.

She drank both glasses but neither Patrick nor David really cared. They were too caught up in each other to even notice. 

**Author's Note:**

> when i finally get to watch these two men get married with my own eyeballs i think im just gonna die


End file.
